I had never seen nor heard about the Sony Mylo(Mylo stands for Mylife Online) digital companion until I saw a recent Rush Mylo ad, downloaded from an RSS feed on my PSP.

Just a bit about the product itself: The Sony Mylois a digital tool that's basically a portable broadband communicator. You can use it to surf the internet, check your emails, IM/chat, make voice calls over the internet, listen to music, check out videos and more. No wires needed - you just get connected through a WiFi spot, and get going. I thought there was an integrated camera in there, but apparently, none yet. Pfff. I don't know why people would get this instead of aSony PSP, which has tons more features, and is about the same price.

Nevertheless, they have this cool new campaign called "Rush Mylo", obviously targeting the golden demographic, youth 18-25. The campaigns mostly feature viral movies about "thumb students" living crazy episodes depiciting college life. You'll find most of these on YouTube, but here are a few anyway.

Among campaign elements, the RUSH MYLO WEBSITEfeaturing an interactive campus on which you can go about, and discover the life of a Thumb Student, and of course many of the Mylo features.

A MOST TRIPPY CAMPAIGN! I love it. Original and complete, noteworthy, talkworthy, with actual movies you can download and view on your Mylo or PSP. Great work from McKinney + Silver, in North Carolina.

Indeed some very artistic direction on the ads for the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach, California -- the third one featuring Duke "The Duke" Kahanamoku, one of the greatest surfing legends in the history of Hawai'i. By Young and Rubicam, Irvine. (Thanks, Advertising/Design Goodness!)

This spot called "Miracle" was produced for the League Of Catholic Women in Brazil in 2005, and was a 2006 New York Festival finalist. The final copy says something like: "People aren't expecting a miracle. Just some help." I don't have agency credits for this, sorry.

This one got silver at the 2006 New York Festival - a great ad for the Fundación Reintegra de México, an mexican organism dedicated to help kids off the streets. From Leo Burnett Mexico. I hope you can read the small subtitles, the spot is real good. (Thanks, BriefBlog!)

I absolutely love the idea behind this commercial. Your. Personal. Space. Think about it for a moment. A car ad that features a lightly enhanced human reality. No tacky family/stuff-big-or-weird-things-in-the-trunk concepts, no over-exaggerated special effects that don't serve the story, no flashy music. Just a well executed concept, great story and great direction (by Stylewar). Ahhh. Refreshing.

I salute the people at Atlético International Advertising, responsible for this novel piece of genius. (Thanks, Llamame Lola!)

This is an interesting (and one of the first) examples of interactive TV advertising I've ever seen. A commercial featuring the OPEL ASTRA during which you may answer a few questions they ask you, and depending on how you answer, the commercial continues and features different parts of the commercial. You also have the option to "see more" at the end of the commercial, and consult the car's specs and other elements.

It's fascinating to see how sometimes Europe is much more advanced compared to North America, in terms of innovative brand communication. We all have those DirectTV or Illico systems at home, but it seems our ad agencies haven't quite had the time (or the guts) to explore the possibilities with such technology.

This is the long version of this amazing ad for Nissan 4x4 truck series, made by TBWA/Chiat/Day. I wish I had digital production house credits for this, because the special effects are nothing but excellent. You can either view it now, here on AdKrispies, in full glorious YouTube half-ass resolution.

Backspace is a project featuring a series of visual performances, "designed to inspire the imagination", as described by their author - a certain Stephen W. from Australia. I should've featured this as part of my "inspiration tuesdays", but I just found out about it this morning - and we're wednesday. So, that's that.

The first episode is titled "FLOAT". Watch it here. I will be showing more episodes as they come out.

For those of you less familiar with art creation software, Corel's Painter series are pieces of software whose purpose is to help you digitally create art that has the look and finish of real drawing and painting media, such as oil, conté crayons, watercolors, pastels or ink.Of course, it won't create your art for you -- it sure is no replacement for raw talent. But nevertheless it's a great tool for professionals and amateurs alike, and you can spend hours fiddling with it.

The latest version in the Painter series is Painter IX.5. You can get a free 30-day trial on Corel's website.

I recently got it for myself, and I just started toying around with it yesterday evening. I created this little painting (gouache on canvas) in less than 2 hours.

Better yet, if you have the chance to get yourself a Wacom Drawing Pad (I've been using one for over 10 years now - if you don't know what it is, check out http://www.wacom.com/), you get incredible stylus control and flexibility over the tools available in painter, for this natural look you want. Try it yourself !

On last weekend I was lucky enough to get tickets (thanks AnneMarie!) to attend the ADAPT 2006 Conference, held here in Montreal. ADAPT stands for Advanced Digital Art Production Techniques, and featured worldwide industry professionals in 2D and 3D digital production who came to talk about their craft, and show us how they work.

Among the speakers were Syd Mead, a living legend of motion picture art direction (some people call him a "conceptual designer", but I don't think the term defines who he is well enough -- I prefer art director)who presented us his career, and through that, bits and pieces of his much inspired psyché.

If the name doesn't ring a bell to you, the man is The Man responsible for the creation of vehicules, scenery and general conceptual universe for movies such as Blade Runner, Tron, Aliens, 2010, Short Circuit, Star Trek and other blockbuster hits -- and still works today at 50-something. He's a true example of industry evolution adaptation, and how you can (and must) always stay in front of TEH FUTURE, conceptually speaking.

Among other great moments, he gave us his views and techniques on creating believable machinery inside believable universes, and the general creative process behind the production of ideas in visual formats.

You can check out Syd's web site by visiting www.sydmead.com . He sells some DVDs on his techniques (I actually got one, and its really great), and books containing samples of his work. A must see, and must have.

Another really interesting speaker at ADAPT conference was Christian Lorenz Scheurer, matte painter/conceptual designer/art director, a brilliant artist and teacher who has worked on incredible productions such as Titanic, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, The Matrix, The Animatrix, and the recent Superman Returns -- among others.

He had this very inspiring and motivating conference about the creation of original and groundbreaking intellectual property (IP) for feature films and next-generation video games. Intellectual property is everything that one mind can create, and that becomes a known universe to the general public. For example, everything pertaining to the Star Wars universe is proper to George Lucas's IP, even though other people are working on new content creation for it. He presented us with his approach on the conception and production of digital art for movies and games, and the importance for an artist to create his own IP for better self-development, and breaking into the movie and video-game business.

I liked his views on art direction, mainly as he was saying that it was "...not a democracy, but a soft tyranny" - funny, but true. While the process behind conception and production requires teamwork, there must be someone with a definite view on how things will end. When an art director decides something will be white with blue dots, he might listen and see if anybody comes up with better ideas, but then if he doesn't like them it's going to stay white with blue dots, and that's that.

Check out Christian's Web Site at http://www.christianlorenzscheurer.com/ . You can also buy his Gnomon Workshop DVDs (I also got myself one of these), on which he presents step-by-step tutorials on different matte painting and drawing techniques.

There is a running debate in the ad industry (agencies and announcers alike) on whether ad agencies should allow the posting of ads that were initially made for TV only, on Internet sites. For example, yours truly, AdKrispies: I'm often posting TV ads of various announcers for your enjoyment, as (among other blogs of my type) I know the general public and agencies alike appreciate the artistic and communicational intelligences of these ads, and thus appreciate them being shared publicly.

But as I'm doing this, the following also happens:

- I become a new media channel for these ads. Let's say I'm displaying a recently-produced TV ad for a fictive company, Moca-Cola, then Moca-Cola gets some free advertising on a media channel they didn't pay for.

- This causes many media placement obligations to be infringed, among others this one: the agencies usually negociate actors appearing in ads depending on complex calculations, but basically withstanding reach (how many people see the ad) and frequency (how many times they see it). While you cannot control the internet posting of TV ads, there is no way to say how many additional times an ad will be seen, other than its original TV use. This means that the actors appearing in the ads you view on places like here are not being paid as per contract definition.- The fact that Moca-Cola gets a free additional media channel means good news for their product placement and brand, yet somewhere, ad agencies lose money (oh I know, boo-hoo-hoo) for work they should normally be paid to do - media placement. But of course, they shut up because the client is happy.

So, as Moca-Cola's commercial is being featured on web sites, the following happens:instead of going even with their 1 million$ total placement/production costs on canadian TV...

- They now get maybe twice or three times much viewers than their originally intended TV viewership,- They get viewed in countries they never expected to reach,- They pay peanuts to the production house, actors and agencies for their now worldwide success,- Are winning over incredible word-of-mouth for their new product/ad.

So this brings the interesting question(s):

Do you think viral video will eventually kill media placement in television?

As announcers, should we be happy that viral video is a phenomenon that actually helps propel our work forward, or should we find a way to control internet propagation to the keep cost/revenue ratio balanced?Please post your opinions and comments freely. In any language you like.

Some of you might already have seen it, some others not, but here it is anyway - the dreamy and luscious commercial for Orange Sport, indeed featuring what I'd call delicious and flavourful frames of mind.

From Ogilvy Belgium, this Exit Shoes campaign features smashing art direction, and weird-but-strangely-compelling storytelling. The copy reads "they'll find the way out". Interesting. I like ads which, while being very clear communicatively speaking (can I really say "communicatively"?), do bring enough absurdity and grotesque to generate an irresistible want for scrutiny from the viewer. And it's the case with these: you can't do anything but stop and try to complete the story behind these. Maybe except that third one. (Thanks, CoolZ0r!)

Microsoft is once again acting like a millionaire's spoiled kid. When they can't have the lead in a particular category, they pout, and they want something BIGGER and BETTER to replace the competition. These days, they're screaming: "I WANT MY YOUTUBE TOO!".

Now, now, Mickey. Big daddy Gates is going to shell out the money, and you will soon be one happy little megacorporation with its new online video community software called SoapBox.SoapBox will be part of the MSN line of products, replacing the once popular MSN Video (before Yahoo, YouTube and friends came and rained on its parade). Unlike MSN Video, Soapbox will be available for various browsers, including Apple's Safari and FireFox.

With SoapBox, you will be able to:

- Upload videos in almost any format-like from your video or digital camera (maximum file size is currently 100MB);- Tag and categorize your videos to make it easy for other people to find them;- Watch original videos and browse for new ones at the same time;- Set up your own personal RSS feeds for videos you're interested in;- Use your Windows Live Spaces profile with Soapbox on MSN Video;- Embed a video on your Web site or blog.

Check out the SoapBox front page here. While the site is still in beta testing, you can request an invitation. The very fruity video they're showing doesn't even play right on my Windows Media Player.

Admit it: you missed me posting these little video games. Try this wonderful Flash version of the original Super Mario Bros., complete with the little music that will probably play too loud on your speakers - instantly alerting any authority/cute girls at your office, which will probably come running and take down (or participate in) your procrastination/marketing research/creative inspiration.

Funky, powerfully explicit and vibrant colors, images filled with life and almost vibrating elements, social statements and opinionated imagery - sometimes just feelings, sometimes more figurative - and masterpieces you could see gracing the inside of any self-respecting bar in Shibuya, Tokyo - this describes (in surface) the art of Drew Flaherty.

Drew points to this link in his F.A.Q. : Lucid Dreaming - this state of dreaming while knowing you are dreaming - which I found to be most interesting. I take it he inspires himself from lucid dreams (funny, because I had one last night...crazy how we are all connected somehow) to create his highly expressive art - and it truly pays off. I like how he mingles with different media, and how his creations are easy on the eyes, and absorb you inside different little universes.

Daily Color Scheme proposes just what the title says: A Daily Color Scheme. You can bookmark the scheme, and also consult the past scheme archive. This might seem unoriginal to most, but to me, it's not. That's how I stay krispy.

Skip this post. Don't say I didn't warn you. It's highly annoying. I'm just posting this because I Stumbled it earlier, and I thought I would relieve my much irritated psyche by sharing this absurdity with you, the unwilling world.

Most respectable commercial for Microsoft Zune, Bill Gates' answer to Apple's iPod series. The Zune series will be new "it" thing in terms of stealing what's left of your social life - becoming your new "digital lifestyle companion".

Besides the initial Zune mp3/video player, we might be plagued with a microsoft portable gaming console (kind of a portable Xbox), a cellphone, a system resembling Itunes that will actually ease your transition from iTunes to Zune, and proprietary software. The whole Zune system will be made to be a complete, vertically-integrated solution, and not a iPod, iPod Nano, iPod Mini, iPod This and that, iTunes, and iStore multiple combo scheme - which might actually make you feel like you have value for your dollar. Coming soon.

From Ogilvy & Mather Costa Rica . While I salute the cool executions and how they never show the trademark cars themselves, I'm wondering how these ads will even interest kids anymore. But it might be truly naive of me to believe that only kids play with Hot Wheels these days, or Barbie dolls, for that matter... (Thanks, Brief blog!)

The Quebec Milk Producers Federation (FPLQ) presents three new :45 seconds spots in its longlasting campaign "Un verre de lait c'est bien, mais deux, c'est mieux" ("one glass of milk is good, but two, better"), apparently a new format for the announcer, registers Infopresse. While the execution can be strongly linked to the campaign visually, I fear that BBDO Montreal fell into a pit of rather expected and tacky storytelling, trying to reach for our little hearties.

I liked where the old lady's spot was going, but then it all ends in a less-than-original stint (I'm not telling you, I'm leaving it up to you to be umm, surprised - for lack of a better word (but disappointed might do fine)), The two other spots are just badly directed, feature boring and unoriginal stories, and clearly look like bad movie theaters-to-TV adaptations.

Music is also ordinary. I liked it more when Studio Apollo did the score.

In conclusion: blah. Sorry guys, this campaign's a miss. Milk always had something aspirational about it, and a touch of imagination, original or absurd - people don't want to be told another bunch of "reality stories". (Thanks, Infopresse)

Another Levi's commercial, featuring daring special effects. This was way ahead of its time for 1977, predicting the coming of the 1984-defined styles and trends. Also a very trippy commercial, which leaves no open questions on how far can one man's imagination stretch, when abusing peanut butter. Interestingly eclectic art direction.

Jason Alexander would probably kick me in the nuts for bringing this up to the world again, as he thought it was buried deep, deep within the entrails of the "Fruitiest Commercials Known To Man" vault. A textbook example of how, when you're a young actor, you're truly ready to sell your soul for fast food. IIt's that bad. *sigh* But then, I was surprised to see how nimble and flexible Jason Alexander was, back in those halcyon days.

This would grace my saturday mornings, in between screenings of He-Man And The Masters of the Universe and G.I. Joe. More proof that back in the days, strong role models were an essential part of each nutritious breakfast.

As you may know, organic food is currently enjoying constant market growth, and is leading an ongoing fight against industrial foods, OGMs and all those evil by-products. I don't have any canadian numbers, but as for USA (From Wikipedia): "Organic food sales within the US have enjoyed 17 to 20 percent growth for the past few years while sales of conventional food - while still larger in size - have grown at only about 2 to 3 percent a year. This large growth is predicted to continue, and many companies are jumping into the market."

Freerange Studios,based in Washington, DC and Berkeley, CA, have decided to highlight the phenomenon by creating "Grocery Store Wars", a humourous indie short taking reference upon a certain sci-fi movie to expose the reality of the Dark Side of the Farm (industrial foods and OGMs), and how organic foods (the Light side) are the rebellion that will spare no effort to overthrow the Evil Empire. The movie is fun and clever - wait 'til you get to the appearance of "Dark Tater", it's a sure kill- and presents the whole organic issue in a smart and entertaining way. The movie was originally done for the Organic Trade Association.

I have the most immense respect for the work of these people, whom I only know through their agency name, Platinum. You are about to see the biggest-collection-in-a-single-spot of the most inspired, brilliant, and pertinent art direction that you couldn't find anywhere else. As an experienced art director myself, I consider I have a lot to learn from these guys. Each piece of their portfolio is nothing short of jaw-dropping, with perfect execution and great attention to detail.

From the Handselecta web site: "Handselecta is an evolving project dedicated to the geographic styles of urban calligraphy that have emerged and developed over the last 30 years. We are a font foundry creating innovative new product while we document and write the history of handstyles in the world of graffiti."Already, contributors from the US east and west coast styles already gave a hand to the foundry's type selection. If you feel you could add your own dexterous calligraphy to handselecta, or just want to check out some fonts, travel to Handselecta.com right here.

Here's the online portfolio of artist/illustrator David Foldvari, from UK. Most of his (quite inspired) work features monotint illustration, making use of shadow and light techniques - sparsely visited by inspired colour interventions. Just like I did, you might already recognize some attempts at imitating his style from various sources, nowadays. And yet, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the poet said - and I'm sure he takes it all in good sport. Or he sues the bastards. Who knows :)

The 1K project is a 3 minute animation featuring cars racing, and a cool tune ("Flower", by Moby). It was done by overlapping 1000 replays of the PC game TrackMania, and creating some new skins for the cars. All it needs is some car company to add its logo and BOOM! Instant Cannes. (If you're an agency interested in buying the project, and you want this post removed when you think you're about to do it, hey - no problem. With money and love, everything can be arranged.)

Here's a cool tool that brings something fresh to the world of viral video (for a good month or two, at least ;-) - Personiva. Personiva allows for the creation of branded content that can be personalized by the viewer, for the viewer. For example you might upload a photo of you, Personiva integrates it inside a specially-made commercial, and you get to watch a TV ad featuring you.

While the experience is certainly new, its current application doesn't strike me as something that will last (the Levi's example on their site wasn't all that impressive), but I salute the idea. I do hope they find a way to push this a lot further.